Gujarat sees 59% turnout; Modi, Shah cast their votes

Valsad district witnessed the highest voter turnout at 72.24% while Banaskantha recorded 68.44%, Chhota Udaipur 67.78%, and Bharuch 68.75%; three villages completely boycotted the election

◣ ver 59.46% turnout was registered in the 25 constituencies of Gujarat where polling was held in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election on Tuesday, as per provisional data at 11.30 p.m.

There are 265 candidates in the fray, including three Union Cabinet Ministers Amit Shah, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala, and a Minister of State Devusinh Chauhan.

The polls were held in 25 of the 26 constituencies in the State because the ruling BJP bagged the Surat seat unopposed after eight out of nine eligible candidates withdrew their nomination forms. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Mukesh Dalal was declared the winner.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had cast their votes in the Ranip and Naranpura booths, respectively.

The Prime Minister urged voters to cast their ballots and participate in the democratic process.

Valsad district witnessed the highest voter turnout at 72.24%, while

OBanaskantha recorded 68.44%, Chhota Udaipur 67.78%, and Bharuch 68.75%.

92 complaints received

Gujarat’s Chief Electoral O™cer P. Bharathi said that 92 complaints about electronic voting machines, the law and order situation and bogus voting were received at the CEO’s control room and those complaints were attended to immediately.

The Congress ƒled as many as 19 complaints about various issues including bogus voting in Banaskantha and other places. It has also complained to the EC that the Prime Minister held a roadshow when he reached the voting booth in Ranip.

Ms. Bharathi added that three villages namely Kesar in Bharuch district andSandhara village of Surat district and Bhakhri village of Banaskantha boycotted the voting while a few other villages partially boycotted the voting.

There were no immediate reasons given about why the villages had shunned the polls.

In Amreli, a 45-year-old polling o™cial died of a heart attack while on duty. She had collapsed and was declared “brought dead” at the hospital.

The EC o™cials said that a total of 4.97 crore people, comprising 2.56 crore men, 2.41 crore women and 1,534 from the transgender community, were registered voters in 50,788 polling booths.

These comprise 17,275 polling booths in urban areas and 33,513 in rural areas.

VIJAY SONEJI Duty calls: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arriving with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to cast his vote at Nishan Public School, Ranip in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

ANI All together: Bhupesh Baghel, Congress candidate from Rajnandgaon, and his family after voting in Durg.